Network Implications of Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing is often described as "Resources accessed via a browser over the Internet." However, this definition has become increasingly insufficient to characterize the breadth of applications and use cases for the cloud, and the networks that must support them. A broadening range of endpoints are accessing the cloud: browser-free device apps, multimedia endpoints such as video and game consoles, sensor networks, servers, and storage. Also, distributed topologies and optimized routing are required due to application latency constraints. Moreover, wireless sensor networks and hybrid cloud scenarios such as cloud-bursting that require a variety of complex distributed data approaches are driving new transport requirements: guaranteed bandwidth, dynamic bandwidth on demand, and usage-sensitive pricing for fine-grained quantities and duration of bandwidth.